This Solicitation opportunity from Smithsonian Institution was posted on May 12, 2026. The submission period has ended. Browse the details below for market research, or find similar active opportunities.
Design Inaugural Exhibitions for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino
Contract Overview
Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.
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AI Contract Overview
The contract solicitation invites qualified offerors to design the inaugural exhibitions for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. Applicants must demonstrate significant experience designing multimillion-dollar museum exhibition projects of comparable size and complexity to those envisioned for this museum. Specifically, offerors must show successful involvement in at least three complete or near-complete museum exhibitions over the past seven years, each integrating objects, images, and multimedia throughout a footprint of at least 35,000 square feet, with at least one project exceeding 45,000 square feet and having been fully fabricated and completed. The museum in question is defined as a non-profit institution that uses historical artifacts or living collections to create engaging educational experiences. Offerors must have worked collaboratively with a wide range of museum professionals, including curators, architects, educators, media producers, and technical staff, among others, to meet the project demands. Subcontractor experience alone cannot fulfill the minimum qualifications, and failure to meet these requirements will disqualify proposals from evaluation. The solicitation was issued by the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, based in Arlington, VA, with the work location in Washington, DC. The deadline for proposal submission is May 18, 2026. All bidders must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) by August 15, 2026, in order to contract with the Smithsonian. Interested parties are directed to contact Debra Berke for access to all solicitation attachments and updates. The project falls under NAICS code 712110, indicating it pertains to museums, historical sites, and similar institutions. The Smithsonian retains discretion to evaluate and determine how closely offerors' past projects align with the scope and requirements of this solicitation.
General Info
Agency
NAICS
Place of Performance
Washington, DC, 20024, USASet-Aside
Timeline
Submission Closed
Organization & Contact Information
Full Description
Amendment 2 attached.
Responses to additional questions attached
Response to bidder questions attached
MINIMUM REQUIREMENT
This solicitation has a minimum requirement that Offerors must demonstrate the capacity to design a multimillion-dollar museum exhibition experience of similar size and scope as the NMAL exhibits intend to be. Offerors must have worked with a diverse group of personnel, such as content developers, architects, curators, scientists, educators, exhibition evaluators, design coordinators, writers, collections managers, facility managers, engineers, media producers, museum technical staff, and exhibit fabricators, etc. Offerors must demonstrate this capacity by showing the Offeror’s prior experience from the past seven years designing exhibitions for at least three complete museum or very complex museum exhibits that integrated objects, images, and multimedia. For the purposes of this minimum requirement, a “museum” is defined as a not-for-profit institution that uses historical artifacts or living collections to create a participatory, transparent, and educational experience that enhances visitors’ understanding of the world. Each example of Offeror’s prior exhibition-design experience must involve a total exhibition footprint of at least 35,000 sq./ft.; and at least one example must involve a total exhibition footprint larger than 45,000 sq./ft. At least one example must have been fabricated and completed; the other examples may be in the process of fabrication. Note that subcontractor performance cannot satisfy the minimum requirement of the prime contractor. Failure of an Offeror to meet the minimum requirement will result in Offeror’s proposal not being evaluated. The Smithsonian reserves the right to determine the extent to which Offeror’s comparable projects meet the minimum requirement as set forth and as clarified herein, and the extent to which Offeror’s comparable projects are relevant to the subject project.
To obtain a link to the attachments below, bidders should contact Debra Berke, berked@si.edu. Once provided with the link, please check often for any updates to the materials.
No contract can be executed with a vendor who is not registered in SAM. Contractors must be registered in SAM no later than August 15, 2026.